ESL Federal Credit Union
ESL Credit Union charges over $900.00 in late fees for $311.82 payment

In 2005 I went to our local car dealer to replace our old no longer trustworthy car. I had purchased many cars there, did not expect a problem.
However, several months earlier I had become severly injured at my work & was on NYS Workers Comp. The dealership wanted a co-signer this time around. I asked my 80yr old mother & she agreed to do so.
As usual, we had a ton of paperwork in front of us and we signed everything.
We both had done this many times before. We did not realize until the very end that the car dealership had put my mother as buyer and me as co-signer.
We let it go through that way, as the car needed to be paid every month, regardless of who's name was on the title. I switch our insurance to the new car October.
In April I was awaiting to be picked up by SSD. The injury from 2005 was permanent and ended my working career at 47yrs old.
My mother called me to say her Visa through the ESL credit Union was frozen and she recieved a letter stating they were going to repo the car from 2005.
ESL stated this was a final warning, they could call in the loan right now, repo the car and take away her Credit Union Membership. For over a week I tried to reach someone from the CU, no luck. A week after that I drove my mother to the Credit Union building. We spoke to the assistant Manager, She finally after about one half hour, reached someone else in Collections. It was discovered that in December I had missed a payment. Niether the Credit Union or myself had noticed. I agreed to send in the payment with May's payment. She agreed but stated she would not remove the ban on my mother's Visa Card until the money was recieved in May. It was during this exchange that the Asst. Manager realized that I had phyiscal possession of the car. This angered the Asst Manager and stated that the car would be in default until I paid just under $1,000.00 in late charges. I then spoke with the branch manager, who said to look over my bank statements to be sure it had not been paid and overlooked, But that either way I was going to pay the full late charges now. My mother was very agitated & confused. Her one link to independance, her visa card, was now useless. As this is a Federal Credit Union I contacted the Federal Credit Union Office. A month later they wrote a letter to say, work out payment schedule. My Mother is on SSA & turning 84yrs old. I am between WC & SSD which mean I has 0 income. My husband is paying the car, our home, and everything in between.
Even if I had the money I am positive they are not entitled to $1,000.00 for a simple late charge. I made up the missing payment in full but the card is still frozen & now I am just waiting until they tow the car away, I am still making monthly payments in the mean time. Being legal does not always make it right.

Company: ESL Federal Credit Union
Country: USA
State: New York
City: Rochester
Address: 100 Kings Highway Suite 1200
Phone: 5853361000

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